JPMorgan Chase's consumer banking chief leaving to head TIAA

Dive Brief:

Thasunda Brown Duckett, JPMorgan Chase's CEO of consumer banking, is leaving the bank to head the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA), the retirement provider and investment firm announced Thursday.
Duckett will replace TIAA President and CEO Roger Ferguson, who announced plans to retire in November. Ferguson, a former Federal Reserve vice chair who spent 13 years as TIAA's CEO, will remain in the role until Duckett takes over May 1.
Duckett will become the third-ever Black woman to head a Fortune 500 company full-time when she takes the helm of TIAA, according to Fortune.

Dive Insight:

"Thasunda is widely recognized as an exceptionally dynamic and inspirational leader," Ronald L. Thompson, chairman of the TIAA's board of trustees, said in a statement. "She brings invaluable experience leading and growing large, complex businesses, setting and executing strategy, improving client experience and attracting and developing talent. Equally important, she is deeply mission-oriented, with values that reflect those of TIAA, including a passion for financial inclusion and empowerment."

Thasunda Brown Duckett

Permission granted by TIAA

Duckett, who made history at JPMorgan Chase last summer as the first Black woman to be named to the bank's operating committee, leads a banking network with more than $600 billion in deposits, 4,900 branches and over 40,000 employees.

As head of the bank's consumer banking division, Duckett has overseen the bank's $20 billion effort to add 400 new branches in 20 new markets over five years.

During the bank's earnings call last month, CEO Jamie Dimon said the nation's largest bank plans to have a presence in 48 states by midyear.

Before heading JPMorgan Chase's consumer banking division, Duckett was CEO of Chase Auto Finance and, before that, served as a national retail sales executive for Chase Mortgage Banking.

"She is an outstanding leader and role model, and we will miss her," Dimon said in a statement, according to The Wall Street Journal. The bank has yet to name Duckett's replacement.

Duckett has headed several diversity and inclusion initiatives during her time at JPMorgan Chase.

She was the executive sponsor of the bank's Advancing Black Pathways program, an initiative aimed at helping Black Americans, and was a member of the steering committee for JPMorgan Chase's Women on the Move, meant to help women advance their careers.

Duckett also sponsored JPMorgan Chase's The Fellowship Initiative, which offers young men of color academic and social support.

"I am extraordinarily grateful for the opportunity to lead a company that has helped millions of people retire with 'enough' to live in dignity and excited about the opportunity to help TIAA chart its next 100 years," Duckett said in a statement, a nod to the association's 103-year history.

TIAA, which has $1.3 trillion in assets under management, offers investing, banking, advice and education and retirement services.